When I saw that, I assumed it must be a bumper-related change. When Alpha_One posted a pic of his Philippines rear bumper (after getting bumped by another driver in traffic), the difference stood out from pics of the Canadian and U.S. spec car.

For your viewing pleasure, from the Canadian PR photo:

Here's the rear bumper everywhere else:

And with outlines for easier comparison, the Canadian bumper again:

The first obvious difference is the legislated side-facing red reflector. Usually this is incorporated into the tail light assembly of most cars.

The other thing you see is the extra length in this bumper, evident in the extra depth of the "shelf" at the lower edge of the hatchback door.

There are also added "character lines" on either side of & below the license plate area.

Why we get this different & longer rear bumper I'm not 100% sure.

It may be due to different bumper strength regulations, or to address the "parking lot damage" tests that cars are subjected to by the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which conducts & publicises its own research & results . (http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/bumpers.aspx )

Doing well on that U.S.-only test would clearly require a deeper (& stronger) rear bumper than appears on the car in other markets.

In the netherlands we have the "trekhaak" (pulling hook) to replace the bumper. When you hit the hook from behind you can be sure that your car radiator will blow up but the car with the hook will have mostly scratches only. When you park your car and you hit other car with the hook your car will have no damage at all

I also just noticed there's no key/lock on the Canadian hatchback, but there is on the other car.

Must be remote unlocking only. Or else just a pre-production car, not quite finished?

Isn't this just the difference between a standard car (with or without remote control) and the one with keyless entry? The keyless entry system has the pushbutton on the hatch and driver door to unlock the complete car. The others use the key or the remote control to unlock, so they don't need the pushbutton,,,

The "Big Bumper" could indeed be the US issue I know they started this in the seventies, when all Mercedeses, Volvo's etc had to get these awfull extended bumpers BTW: Only Porsche fixed this nicely at that time on their G-model with the harmonica bumpers...

But yeah, I got the ES model which comes with SMART key so the white one has the push button for unlocking all doors including the hatch. I can't remember if the DE models have a standard key hole or nothing at all on the hatch.

But as for the rear bumper, I remember hearing that the i-Miev had to have its rear bumper extended too for the US market. I do remember hearing the reviewer saying it had to do with our crash test regulations. IIHS must be very demanding I guess but I see it as a good thing. If I have to sacrifice a bit of weight for added safety, then that doesnt really bother me much.

The bumper extension is indeed a safety regulations modification. The rear crash beam is extended is a inward-collapsing unit as per regulations to absorb more impact in the event of a rear-end collision. This requires extended bumper skins and other reinforcements throughout the chassis, attributing to some of the +35kg weight increase over other markets (865kg vs 890kg).